HOW FORM THREES SHOULD SPEND DECEMBER HOLIDAY WISELY.
77 days at home, the longest holiday since they joined high school.
Many students don’t know what they want, and to a bigger extent, the ones who know what they want have no idea how to achieve what they want.
This holiday is the one that determines whether a student will get a B+ or a D+ in KCSE next year. The form threes should use this holiday to mature and to realize that they left the school as pre-candidates but they will open school in January as candidates.
This is the holiday for the form threes to realize the sweetness of Chemistry and to identify the aroma of Mathematics. This is the holiday when form threes should remember that bottled water companies don’t produce water, they produce plastic bottles. They can’t produce water because it is an industrious process, costly and furthermore water is readily available. They can only soften it, refine it, package it, seal it, transport it and sell it.
For you form threes, you can’t manufacture that A, but you can refine that C+ to become an A. It is possible.
For this 77 days, focus on yourself, negotiate with your parents and aspire to exceed the expectations. If the family gathering or cousins’ meeting should take 10 days, explain to your parents that you can only be available for 3 days utmost.
Be busy, keep yourself busy. Remember, an idle mind is the devils workshop. Form three boys, this is not the time for riding motorbikes from morning to evening. Form three girls, this is not the moment to wear croptops and crocs and claim every person’s attention in the whole entire village.
77 days is 2 and a half months. A student should divide the 8 subjects into three categories, i.e the red subjects, the orange subjects and the green subjects.
The red subjects should be 2, the orange subjects should be 4 and the green subjects should be 2.
The red subjects are the subjects which need the highest level of attention by a student. They are the subjects that are most challenging to a student. These are the subjects in which a student consistently gets low grades compared to other subjects. The average percentage of marks in exams in these subjects to a student is mostly below 35%. To some students, the red subjects are Mathematics and Chemistry. To others it is English and Biology. The red subjects varie from one student to another.
The orange subjects are the lukewarm subjects. A student is not doing bad and neither is he/she doing well. In this subjects, the student is always inconsistent in the performance. The average percentage of marks in exams in these subjects to a student is mostly between 35% and 65%.
The green subjects are the ones which even if KCSE comes today, the student expects to do well in these subjects. In these subjects, the student consistently performs well. The average percentage of marks in exams in these subjects to a student is mostly above 65%.
As I said, the students are home for 77 days (Two and a half months).
The first one month at home (from 25th October 2023 until 25th November 2023) the student should spend this time to study the 2 red subjects.
The second month at home (from 26th November 2023 until 25th December 2023) the student should spend this time to study the 4 orange subjects.
The last half a month at home (from 26th December 2023 until 10th January 2024) the student should spend this time to study the 2 green subjects.
Academic success needs organisation, organisation needs preparation, preparation needs consistency and consistency needs sacrifice.
Form threes, nobody goes to campus by diffusion. Nobody gets an A in KCSE by osmosis. Nobody pursues Medicine by active transport.
To be organised and realistic, a form three student should focus on form two and form three work during this holiday. They should ensure no stone is left unturned when it comes to form two and three syllabus. They should join form four class with confidence that form two and three work has been understood by over 80%.
Now, when they close school for April holidays next year, they should come home with form one notes only. When they close school in August, they should focus on form four work only.
Success needs organisation! Don’t leave your studies on autopilot. Take control of it. Be organised.
This holiday is very important. It will determine your KCSE grade, your KCSE grade will determine your future.